Two of the top Americans on the ATP World Tour offered different perspectives on playing in next year’s Summer Olympics in London.
Former Georgia standout John Isner said he hopes to be selected for the U.S. team, which can feature as many as four players, though he said he hasn’t thought about it much because it’s a year away. Isner, who hasn’t competed in the Olympics, is ranked No. 35 in the world and will play in the finals of the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Sunday for the second consecutive year.
The top 56 players in the rankings next June 11 will automatically qualify.
At No. 9, Mardy Fish is the highest-ranked American, one spot ahead of Andy Roddick. He said he hasn’t decided if will play. He won silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics, losing in five sets to Chile’s Nicolas Massu. He took the defeat very hard.
“I didn’t go to Beijing partly because of that,” Fish said. “I was just not emotionally ready to do it again.”
Fish said the possibility of playing in London, which is closer, is more enticing than was traveling around the world to play in China.
The 2012 Olympics begin July 27, less than a month after Wimbledon ends. Tennis will begin July 28 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, where Wimbledon is held.
“It’s going to be special,” Isner said. “It’s going to be like two Wimbledons next year. To have the championships and get the grass back ready to turn it around for the Olympics, it will be cool.”
Doubles finals
Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Matthew Ebden defeated Richard Berankis and Xavier Malisse 6-1, 7-6 (3) in the doubles semifinals Saturday. The other semifinal featuring Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins against Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser was played Saturday night.
The winners of the doubles tournament will split $29,400, with the runner-ups splitting $15,450.
Ram tough
Rajeev Ram experienced an unusual week at the Atlanta Tennis Championships. He was beaten by Ryan Harrison 6-4, 1-6, 6-7 (5) in a thrilling quarterfinals match that ended early Saturday morning.
That Ram advanced that far was the surprise. He is known more for his doubles play. One-half of the ATC’s defending doubles champions, he was 19-10 with two titles this season before the wild-card duo of Georgia Tech’s Kevin King and Georgia’s Drake Bernstein eliminated him and Scott Lipsky in the first round.
Ram made it into the main draw of singles through qualifying, something he had failed to do nine previous times this season. He was 0-1 in singles matches this year, his one loss because he didn’t have to qualify. That didn’t stop him from defeating Grigor Dimitrov, the fifth seed, in the first round and former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the second at the Racquet Club of the South.
Ahead 6-5 and leading 40-30 in the third set Friday, Ram had a chance to break Harrison and make it to his first ATP Tour singles semifinal since winning the Newport, R.I., event in 2009.
However, Harrison fired an ace and then won the last two points to win the game and tie the set, 6-6. Ram fell behind in the tiebreaker, 5-1, only to rally to tie it 5-5. Harrison won the sixth point with a volley.
Ram hit a sequence of his best shots in the final game, but Harrison returned them all, with the last clipping the net and bounding over Ram, who seemed poised to hit a backhand winner. Harrison seemed embarrassed by the shot, holding up an apologetic hand to Ram, who stood with his head back in disbelief.
